H.S. boys basketball: River Dell mending and winning on court

River Dell senior point guard Ryan Zaccaria dribbles past a Ridgefield Park defender in a game Jan. 25.

ORADELL - As quickly as a pair of sophomores cracked the River Dell High School boys basketball lineup at the start of the season, they were gone, sidelined by injuries. That helps explain the up-and-down start to the Golden Hawks' campaign.

The team record stood at 5-6 as third-year head coach Ron Van Saders reflected on past games Jan. 21 when snow wiped out the high school schedule.

"We started 2-0, but then we didn't play well the next four games," he said. "But the last five games we've played well. We had a tough double-overtime loss to Ridgefield Park, lost a close one to Englewood and won over Mahwah, Cliffside Park and Fort Lee. And, in the Christmas Tournament [the Bergen Holiday Festival at Bergenfield High School], we lost to an outstanding Bergenfield team. But we played hard."

In the most recent Top 25 rankings by The Record, Bergenfield was No. 8 and Dwight Morrow of Englewood was 18th.

First, the Hawks had to gather themselves after the two 10th-graders - Kyle Delthoff, a 6-2 forward, and Mike Fasano, a 5-9 guard - were shelved.

"They were hurt a couple of weeks ago, and they're recovering," Van Saders said. "They were very steady for us before that."

Van Saders was the longtime assistant coach at River Dell under Brian Long, who is now the school's vice principal. Van Saders took over as head coach three years ago. He comes from a coaching family, preceded by his father, Ron, and uncle, Bob, both of whom were noteworthy baseball coaches in Bergen County. Both retired as athletic directors - Ron at Teaneck and Bob at Indian Hills.

"I learned a lot from my dad and my uncle," he said. "Even though they coached a different sport, I learned from them about philosophy and how to deal with kids and attitudes. And I learned about the Xs and Os of basketball from Brian."

Losing two starters early had to unnerve the program a bit since the same happened last year. "We had a bunch of injuries," the coach said. "And we lost two starters for the year right at the beginning, and we finished well under .500."

The Golden Hawks have been able to right the ship because four seniors are making major contributions, Van Saders said. They are 5-9 point guard Ryan Zaccaria, 6-1 swing man Dan Desiderio, 6-6 center Troy Bendian and 6-2 forward C.J. Nobile.

The coach's descriptions of them follows:

Zaccaria - "He's very quick, and he creates a lot of offense. He's our best on-ball defender, and his shooting has improved."

Desiderio - "He's really come on the last six games. He can shoot the three, and he's broken 20 points three times; plus, he defends against the best player on the other team."

Bendian - "He's added stability to our back end. His rebounding is coming on; he had 20 the other night, and he's improved as a passer."

Nobile - "He's one of our hardest workers. He does an excellent job rebounding and is always diving on the floor for loose balls. He's a glue player."

Helping fuel the revival are the graduates from last year's lower-level teams. "Our JV finished three or four games over .500 last year, and our freshman team was in the County Freshman Tournament's final four," Van Saders noted.

Another sophomore, 5-10 guard Colin Daly, has proven to be a marksman.